MAY 10, 1923
LIGHT 'PLA1
ANOTHER milestone in the progress of aviation was established
on Sunday, May 6, when M. Georges Barbot made the flight
across the Channel and back on his little Dewoitine mono-
plane. One thing has marred the very fine performance of
Barbot—i.e., the manner in which the daily press proclaimed
from the house-tops that the Frenchman had " glided "
across the Channel. When it was first announced that the
Daily Mail had offered a prize of ^1,000 for light 'planes, we
protested against the use of the word " motor glider," pointing
out that the word is an absurdity, and that light aeroplane
or light 'plane is the logical term to use. Already our opinions
have been confirmed by the way in which Barbot's flight was
heralded as a " glide." The term motor glider having been
accepted and given official sanction by the Royal Aero Club,
the daily press naturally took it up, and in the hustle of daily
journalism the " motor " dropped out, with the result that
the Press, almost without exception, spoke of the flights as
having been glides. Most of the minor fry can be excused,
but it is surprising to find the Morning Post amongst the
offenders. Thus in the mind of the public there has been
caused a great deal of confusion, and nobody seems to be
quite certain whether Barbot glided across or flew across.
* * *
WE are extremely glad to note that The Times, taking its
usual calm and well-considered view of things, points out
that although Barbot's flight was a notable event in the
history of aviation, " in estimating its true importance the
first essential is to get rid of the idea that it was in any sense
an experiment in the art of gliding."
* * •
To return to the flight itself, M. Barbot had intended to
make the attempt on Saturday, May 5, but after rising to
a considerable height he cruised about for two hours without
being able to locate the two seaplanes that were to have
acted as his escorts. Thinking that they had been unable
to find him, and seeing that there was a heat mist over the
Channel, he wisely decided to abandon the attempt.
* * *
ON Sunday, May 6, the weather was favourable, although
there was a good deal of mist about, and it was not until
towards evening that Barbot decided to make the attempt.
Spending about half an hour in reaching a height of 5,500 ft.,
so as to be able to make a good long glide should his engine
fail, he headed towards the English coast. Travelling over
Folkestone and Hythe, he reached Lympne after having been
in the air for one hour one minute.
* * *
M. BARBOT brought with him a red ensign which it had
been his intention to drop from his machine when over
English soil. However, it got entangled in some part of
the machine and he could not release it. After landing he
handed it to members of the party which had assembled at
Lympne, among whom was Lord Edward Grosvenor. The
flag bore the message, "A la memoire des soldats Anglais
tombes sur la terre de France 1914-1918, Dewoitine, Barbot."
* * •
WHEN mechanics examined the Dewoitine it was found
that one of the bracing wires of the undercarriage had been
damaged, and it took some considerable time to get it
replaced, so much so that there was some anxiety as to
whether Barbot would be able to get back to St. Inglevert
before dark. However, the wire was ultimately replaced,
and after further delay, owing to the engine refusing to
start, he got away, and, as was learned afterwards, alighted
safely at St. Inglevert, having made the double journey,
and thus won the 25,000 francs prize offered by Le Matin.
* * *
WITH regard to the machine itself, this is already familiar
to readers of FLIGHT, a photograph of it having been published
in our issue of April 12, 1923. For this particular flight the
Anzani engine was replaced by a Clerget, on the grounds, it is
stated, that the Anzani is not a French engine. This seems
a curious decision, and one would have thought that Anzani
was at least as much French as is M. Dewoitine.
* * *
THE Clerget engine fitted in the Dewoitine is of the same
type as that exhibited at one of the Paris Aero Shows some
years ago, and it is rather interesting to recall that the same
engine was, some years ago, fitted in the curious little
de Pischoff biplane, on which the designer made several
cross-country flights without anyone outside aviation circles
taking much notice of his performance. De Pischoff was
later killed while flying this little machine—due, it was
thought, to the machine having met such strong " bumps "
that de Pischoff was thrown out of the machine. The engine
is of approximately the same capacity as the Bristol " Cherub,"
and would not, therefore, be accepted for the forthcoming
competition for the Sutherland Prize. As used by Barbot
the engine is thought to have developed about 12 h.p.,
although it is supposed to be capable of 16 to 18 h.p. when
run all out.
* • * ,-
THE official times given by the Air Ministry for Barbot's
flights are as follows :—Left St. Inglevert, 6.20 p.m. ; arrived
Lympne, 7.21 p.m. ; left Lympne, 8.1 p.m. ; arrived St.
Inglevert, 8.45 p.m. The longer time taken on the outward
journey is due to the fact that Barbot climbed to over
5,000 ft. before setting out across the Channel. On the return
journey, with darkness coming on, he flew low without losing
any time. The petrol consumption is stated to have been
about 2 gals., and as the direct distance is approximately
36 miles, this represents his fuel consumption. As there
was, however, no restriction on the amount of petrol con-
sumed, Barbot probably did not trouble to reduce this to
a minimum, and the machine furthermore had a light cross
wind on both trips, which would somewhat lower the mileage
per gallon.
* * •
ON Monday last, May 7, Barbot flew the Dewoitine from
St. Inglevert to Le Bourget, with an intermediate landing
at Beauvais. Leaving St. Inglevert at midday, he landed
at Beauvais at 2.30 p.m., having covered about 75 miles in
2\ hours against a head wind. Leaving Beauvais at 5.20 p.m.,
he landed at Le Bourget at 6.5 p.m. It is estimated that he
had covered the distance of somewhat over 150 miles at a
cost for petrol of about 10s., or less than a penny a mile.
In a few days Barbot is stated to be leaving for America,
with his Dewoitine. Is he going to introduce it to Mr. Henry
Ford for mass production ?
Mr. Handley Page and the Overseas League
LECTURING before members of the Overseas League on
Monday, the 7th inst., Mr. F. Handley Page made a striking
appeal on behalf of British commercial aviation. That he
succeeded in impressing his audience by bringing home to
them, in his usual inimitable and amusing style, the serious
position in which British commercial aviation is likely to
find itself unless strong action be taken was apparent by the
enthusiasm accorded by all present.
His lecture, besides serving the purpose of providing this
necessary " ginger," was especially interesting to those more
or less out of touch with matters aviatic, as he briefly outlined
what was being done in Europe with commercial air lines
and gave several striking comparative figures. We do not
propose, however, to report his lecture in full, as—apart from
our being short of space—most of the information he gave us
is already known to our readers. There were one or two
points made, however, which we think might be recorded.
Referring to the nose dive made by British aerial supremacy
since the War, he compared our present air line activities,
and those of France, to the big transcontinental and trans-
atlantic lines in the case of the latter and the S.E. and C.R.
suburban lines in the case of Great Britain. He urged that
the Air League should receive even a greater support from the
people of Britain than that attained by the Navy League, for
supremacy of the seas was useless without supremacy in the
air. He pointed out that it was essential to cultivate an
" air sense " in the people, so that the younger generation
would realise the romance of air travel as today they do in
the case of travel and adventure by sea.
In moving a vote of thanks to the lecturer, Lieut.-Col.
Mervyn O'Gorman, who was in the chair, also made a strong
appeal to every one to give their support to one or other of
the three bodies at present in existence looking after the
interests of aviation— i.e., the Air League, the Royal Aero-
nautical Society and the Royal Aero Club.
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